


Suddenly There's Sunlight All Around Me

by codenametargeter



Series: the pirate and the mage [1]
Category: Dragon Age (Video Games), Dragon Age - All Media Types, Dragon Age II
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-29
Updated: 2019-09-29
Packaged: 2020-10-30 06:07:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,138
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20809784
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/codenametargeter/pseuds/codenametargeter
Summary: An awkward conversation with Hawke results in a somehow even more awkward conversation with Bethany and Isabela is wondering how the hell this ended up being her day.





	Suddenly There's Sunlight All Around Me

In retrospect, it was her sage wisdom about how men were only good for one thing and how women were good for six that caused all of this.

She hadn't been  _ wrong _ . In Isabela's experience (and she had more than her fair share of it,) women tended to be far more inventive in bed and more eager to make sure they both reached their climaxes. Men were... Well. There was a reason she preferred to be on top. And really, she'd been doing the Littlest Hawke a favor. Unlike her sister, the poor girl had never gone to bed with a man or woman. The least she could do was set expectations. Bethany was a sweet girl and, well, call her sentimental, but she'd hate to see that pretty face streaked with tears when a man broke her heart. 

The hour was somewhat late but Isabela was still in the tap room of the Hanged Man with her usual tankard of awful ale in hand, surveying the room. Even if she hadn't been looking, it would've been impossible to miss Hawke walking in the door. For all of her charms, the woman had yet to learn how to be subtle. It was a good thing she was able to solve her problem with her tongue or her sword because she had no future in thievery. 

By the time the other woman had crossed the room, Isabela already had a second tankard in hand and extended it towards her. "Drink?"

"Maker, yes," Hawke said, gulping down a third of it and then making her usual face at the taste. "Is this ever going to get any better?"

"No, but you'll stop noticing one day." 

"Lovely." 

Isabela jerked her head in the direction of an empty table, waiting until they were both settled before speaking again. “I know you’re not here for the ale so why are you here tonight?”

“Maybe I just wanted the pleasure of your company,” Hawke said, looking at her over the rim of her tankard with a look so flirtatious that she wasn’t sure if it was deliberate or just Hawke being Hawke. “We are friends after all.”

“Did you want to be friends tonight?” Isabela asked. “Or  _ friends _ ?”

Almost immediately, she dropped her gaze to stare at the cracked wood of the table, swallowing hard. “Isabela, I…”

She sighed and rolled her eyes. Who would’ve ever thought that Hawke would be this twitchy? “Relax. I’m just offering sex, Hawke, not a marriage proposal.”

Hawke snorted. “What? Being tied down isn’t your thing?”

“Depends on who’s doing it.”

If that wasn’t interest in Hawke’s dark blue eyes, than Isabela was a blushing virgin. It wasn’t the first time she’d seen it either. More than once, she’d caught Hawke studying her ass as they ran up all the stupid steps in Hightown. Not that she blamed her. She kept her assets on display for a reason and looks like Hawke’s were half of it. Couldn’t blame a girl for wanting to be appreciated. Still, there was something that felt more… raw about how Hawke looked her up and down now, gaze lingering upon her breasts.

“Is that interest I see?” Isabela kept her tone light, flirty.

She swallowed. “No.”

“You’re a better liar than that.”

“Okay, yes, it is because I’m human but I can’t.”

“Ropes can be optional.”

“Isabela, I can’t!”

Well now. That tone certainly got her attention. To buy herself a few seconds, Isabela took a drink of ale. And then she said something completely and utterly stupid. “Something wrong, sweet thing?”

Clearly there was. “Listen,” Hawke said, shifting uncomfortably in her seat for reasons Isabela was pretty sure had nothing to do with her cumbersome armor. “I don’t want to come off as the overbearing older sister but I just need to say this.” 

“What would that be?”

“That I love my sister more than anything in this life and that her happiness means more to me than anyone or anything." 

She blinked. “What does Bethany have to do with anything?”

“Everything?”

“Hawke, I don’t have the first clue what you’re talking about.”

Groaning, Hawke downed another third of her tankard and then dragged both hands down her face. “This is really not how I thought this was going to go.”

Yeah. Her neither. Honestly, Isabela had been looking forward to seeing if the other woman’s bravado carried over to the bedroom. It would’ve been fun if it had. This? This was a bizarre conversation that seemed to be bordering on  _ feelings _ and yet her traitorous mouth asked, “Why don’t you start at the beginning?” 

“Bethany is going to kill me.” 

“That’s not an explanation, sweet thing.” 

“You can’t break her heart!” Hawke blurted out. That was enough to shock Isabela into silence. Hawke flushed and then said, “Just don’t break Bethany’s heart, okay? She likes you more than I think she’ll ever say and I don’t want to see her get hurt.” After a few more seconds of awkward silence, she spoke again. “Look, I know you’re like me and we both flirt as easy as we breath but Bethany… she’ll think it’s real if you let her.” There was another pause. “Unless it is real?”

“No, I…” she started to respond reflexively. And then everything started to make sense. Isabela sighed. Loudly. “Well fuck.”

“That doesn’t have the same ring to it as Varric’s ‘well shit’.”

An entire slew of curses went through her mind but she somehow managed to keep them from passing through her lips. “I’ll take care of it, Hawke.” The other woman gave her a disbelieving look which made her roll her eyes. “Honestly.”

And that was how she’d ended up here in Hightown the next day, trying to find her courage to cut this off at the knees when--

“Isabela?” Bethany’s clear voice broke into her thoughts. “What are you doing up here? Is my sister here too?”

Well. There was no use hiding now. “No but I should ask you the same thing,” Isabela replied as she closed the distance between them. 

A hint of pink appeared on her cheeks. “I don’t follow Adara  _ everywhere _ .”

“I know, sweet thing. Neither do I.”

Awkward silence hung between them and the mage dropped her eyes to study her shoes. Now that Isabela was looking for it… maybe Hawke wasn’t entirely crazy. No, she probably was. Innocent little things like Bethany Hawke flushed nicely when they heard talk of sex with other woman but what they really wanted was one of those stupid, sweeping romances with a rich man to carry them off. Too bad none of the little fools knew how it usually ended. But at the same time, it was hard not to interpret the way Bethany’s eyes lingered a moment too long on her chest as anything but interest.

“I went to the market for Mother,” Bethany finally said. “The vegetables are so much fresher up here and I like to get them here for her when I can. Your turn.”

“I was here to see a man about sharpening my knives properly,” Isabela invented an excuse out of thin air. “Why don’t I walk you back to Lowtown?”

Both of Bethany’s dark eyebrows shot up. “I can protect myself, Isabela.”

“I know you can, sweet thing.” And it was true, she did. More than once, she’d found herself a little distracted when they were somewhere that Bethany could fight openly with her magic and use it like an artist. “Watching you freeze four Carta members in their tracks at once isn’t exactly something I’ll forget any time soon. I’m headed that way anyways.”

For a moment, she thought the mage would refuse her but then she bit her lip and nodded. “All right then.”

Relieved, Isabela fell into step with her as they make their way through the market. “Was that a new one?”

“It was in one of the books Varric found for me,” Bethany said, brown eyes lighting up. “Anders helped me practice it.”

“Glad he does something besides brood.”

“He helps a lot of people in Darktown.” 

“While brooding.” 

Bethany’s lips parted to probably defend him again before she caught on to Isabela’s grin and she laughed. “He probably brood less if he’d actually flirt back with my ridiculous sister.” Her voice changed into what was clearly supposed to be an imitation of Hawke. “‘That explains your whole sexy tortured look.’ Honestly, does she expect those lines to work?” 

“It’s not the worst I’ve heard,” Isabela said. And it’s true but not by much. Some of the men in the Hanged Man would do better if they didn’t talk. It was also the perfect opening for her to talk about what she came here for. Andraste’s tits. “Listen. Bethany, there’s something I wanted to talk to you about.” 

“If it’s another offer for a night at the Blooming Ro--”

“It’s not.” She didn’t give Bethany a chance to ask another question before spitting out. “Hawke came to talk to me the other night. About you.”

Bethany stiffened but hid it a heartbeat later. Her tone was a little too calm to actually be calm. “Why would she do that?” 

She’d come up with a plan before she’d gone looking for the mage. Earlier that morning, she’d figured out what she’d say because if she screwed it up, she had a feeling Hawke would appear in the Hanged Man again and probably have something sharp in hand. Every single word she’d come up with fled from her mind. “Nevermind. It’s nothing, sweetness.”

“I’m going to freeze her to her bed,” Bethany muttered, not looking at her, “and then I’m going to freeze all of her small clothes into a block of ice.” 

And then she rattled off some words that made Isabela snicker. “Where did you learn those?”

“Just because I’ve never--” Her cheeks flamed red. “--that doesn’t mean I don’t know things!” It just made Isabela laugh more. “Ugh. What exactly did my  _ dear sister _ say?”

“That you’re going to kill her for this. And to not break your heart. There was an or else implied.”

Bethany took a deep breath before she replied. “I’m not-- I wasn’t-- I haven’t been pining. I knew you didn’t really mean any of it, I swear. She shouldn’t have said anything.”

It was in that moment that Isabela knew Hawke was wrong. She wasn’t going to break Bethany’s heart. Bethany was going to break hers because this sweet, caring girl was everything she wasn’t. Bethany deserved to have that swooping romance with someone who would worship her like she deserved, not some pirate who flinched at the scent of four letter words that begin with L. 

She knew she’d been quiet too long when Bethany frowned and said, “Isabela?”

Using words was starting to seem highly overrated. Instead, she grabbed the young woman’s wrist and drew her into the shadows and then closer still as she pressed her lips against hers in as chaste of a kiss as she could manage. It was a few seconds before Bethany seemed to realize what was going on and Isabela would forever cherish the soft sound of surprise and the contentment she made, as muffled as it was against her lips. And then she grabbed at Isabela’s tunic and melted against her. This wasn’t the mage’s first kiss. Isabela could tell that much but there was still a hesitant sweetness to how she kissed and she couldn’t bring herself to turn it filthy or even slip in a little tongue.

Both of Bethany’s brown eyes were almost perfectly round from shock once they broke apart. It was hard to tell which one of them was more surprised. She swallowed. “Sorry. Should I have asked first?”

“You didn’t have to kiss me out of pity,” Bethany said almost chidingly. “I don’t care what--”

She cut her off. “I don’t do pity fucks.”

“Yes, but that--”

“I don’t do pity kisses either. Well not usually.”

“So this…”

“It wasn’t a pity kiss.” 

“What was it then?” There was steel in the littlest Hawke’s voice to match the steel in her spine and the idiots in Darktown should have been just as scared of her as they were of her sister. It just made Isabela want to kiss her again so she did. And then another time for good measure. “Isabela!”

“Should I stop?”

“No! I mean, yes! I mean--” Bethany sighed. “You’re making this so confusing.”

“Would it help if I kissed you again?”

“No.”

Space. That made sense even though nothing else about this did. What made less sense was when Bethany leaned forward and kissed her and with tongue this time which meant Isabela didn’t even a tiny bit guilty for letting her hands roam downwards over the curve of the other woman’s rear. Judging by the soft sounds she was making and how firmly she held her face between her hands, Bethany didn’t object.

Isabela started laughing as they broke apart. “Your sister is going to kill me.”

“She can try!” Bethany said fiercely. “It’s all her fault anyways.” 

“Oh I’ll tell her that.” Maker, she was precious. A part of her wanted to just take the mage’s hand and lead her to her quarters in the Hanged Man and see how many of the six ways she could teach her about before exhaustion caught up with them but she stopped herself. That wasn’t how any of this should go. Bethany deserved better than a hasty tumble or that night in the Blooming Rose she’d offered. This could never really work.

Her traitorous face must have given away some of her thoughts because Bethany said, “You have that look again.”

“What look?”

“ _ That _ look!”

“This is a terrible idea,” Isabela finally managed to say. “I have sex and I don’t bring feelings into it. I’ll break your heart like Hawke told me not to.”

“Why don’t you let me worry about my heart?” Bethany sounded more resolved than she could ever remember her sounding before. 

“It’ll be a disaster.”

“Well now you sound like Anders.”

Oh! Well. Isabela narrowed her eyes. If that was how it was going to be. “Do you see a dead bird on my shoulders, sweetling?” Bethany leaned back to give first one shoulder and then the other an appraising look before letting her gaze linger somewhere in the middle. It wasn’t subtle. Any other time, she might have smirked but right now… If anything, it was a stark reminder that this was a bad idea. She’d let this go far enough. And she’d promised Hawke. Clearing her throat, she took a deliberate step back and then another. “There’s a uhh something I have to take care of.”

Bethany narrowed her eyes. “What happened to walking me home?”

“You’re a mage. You don’t need a woman with daggers to keep you safe,” Isabela said as she kept walking backwards until she could duck down an alley.

“Isabela!” Bethany yelled after her even though it wasn’t going to do much good. If there was one thing Isabela knew how to do, it was disappear. This was for the best. A few kisses were one thing but what Bethany wanted was… it just wasn’t her style. She was doing them both a favor. Honestly.

That was what she was still telling herself much later that same day when someone pounded loudly on her room door. “I’m not here.”

“That’s ridiculous. I can hear you.”

She swallowed hard and set down the dagger she’d been cleaning. There weren’t many mages she was on speaking terms with but this particular one was at the top of her lists of mages and Hawkes she didn’t want to talk to tonight.

“Isabela, please don’t make me blast the door open.” 

Reluctantly, she rose to her feet and opened the door just wide enough so they could see each other. “I’m busy, little Hawke.”

Bethany pushed the door the rest of the way open and stepped inside. “We didn’t finish talking before.”

“There was nothing left to talk about.”

“There was plenty left to talk about.”

Silence fell between them as Isabela tried to think of how she could possibly explain this to Bethany who could face down a horde of darkspawn and yet knew so little about how the world really was. The words that came out were the truth she preferred to keep buried deep inside. “I used to be married. Did you know that?” Bethany shook her head. “My mother sold me to him. He’s dead now and I just wish someone had slit his throat sooner. Being tied down like that’s only ever brought me pain.”

Carefully, Bethany reached out for one of her hands with both of hers. “I’m not him.”

Those three words tugged at her heart and made her smile. “I know you’re not, sweet thing.” She leaned forward to press her lips to her forehead. “But I’d be shockingly bad for you. I can’t give you what you want--”

“You don’t know what I want!” The two women stared at each other for a moment after Bethany’s outburst. After a moment, she repeated in a softer tone, “You don’t know what I want, Isabela, because you never let me tell you.”

There was no running when she was in her own room. Instead, Isabela took in a deep breath and let it out again, forcing herself to smile a little. “Tell me then.”

Bethany closed the last bit of distance between them. “I want to kiss you again and then find out more about those six things you said women are good for. I want to be with you when we can both find the time and my sister doesn’t have us running up and down the mountain again. And whatever else happens between us… happens.”

Her mouth was dry. “I’ll make a mess of things.”

“All of Kirkwall’s a mess. We’ll fit right in.”

She laughed, the sound more breathy than true mirth, and she didn’t move away when Bethany pressed her lips against hers. She was almost always ready for a fight but she didn’t want to fight this one anymore. Not when losing felt like this. Placing her hands firmly on the other woman’s hips, Isabela tugged her away from the door and towards her bed, maneuvering them so it was Bethany’s back that hit the bed. She smiled at the Bethany’s sharp intake a breath and shift so she was straddling her lap. “Well then. Let’s start with the first lesson. It’s not always like in those books I lent you.”

Cheeks flushed, both of Bethany’s dark eyebrows shot up. “It’s not?”

“It’s not,” Isabela said, smirking like a cat who’d caught the mouse. “It’s better.” 

**Author's Note:**

> As per usual... I don't even know. Isabela is hard to write but I knew I wanted to write something Bethany/Isabela because I tripped and ship them super hard. (Also I'd like half of a gold star for not writing the initial ridiculous fic I thought of and going with this one instead.) 
> 
> Listen. The point is that I wrote this and got it out of my system. And also that more people should write fics for these two so I can read them. Please?


End file.
